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Make Your Mark on Hunger during National Service Month

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Child hunger is an issue near and dear to our hearts at The Motherhood, because we know 16 million kids in the U.S. are not getting the food they need. Without reliable access to healthy food and proper nutrition, children face developmental obstacles that can impact them for life.

Solving child hunger in America is not something we can do alone. That’s why we’re excited to partner with ConAgra Foods, the ConAgra Foods Foundation and dozens of amazing bloggers who are passionate about fighting child hunger for National Service Month in April.

Together with their children, our bloggers have been hard at work making their mark on hunger and using the opportunity to teach their kids about child hunger and the importance of community service. Take a look at just a few of their service projects:

Nicole, Mom Always Finds Out: “14,712 pounds of food were donated on that single Saturday.”

Nicole Mom Always Finds Out

Mel, Adventures of Mel: “Helping out in a local community garden like this is just a really great way to get involved in the fight against child hunger. It’s donating time and effort toward providing nutritious, fresh foods to families in need.”

Mel Adventures of Mel

Dawn, The Frugal Mom: “My mantra is: ‘Help when you can, where you can!’ The 16-person team packed over 2,000 meals in just three hours!”

Dawn The Frugal Mom

For inspiration on how to help solve child hunger in your area, watch this video of kids sharing their ideas on making a difference. More resources are also available at www.childhungerendshere.com or our Pinterest board. Tell us how you’re making a difference using #FightHungerTogether in the comments below or tweet us at @TheMotherhood.

Featured image courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Flickr)

Fight Hunger. Spark Change.: Simple Ways to Help People in Need

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The issue of hunger in America can seem so daunting: one out of six people in this country struggles with hunger at some point during the year. In the spring, to make matters more difficult, food banks tend to experience a decline in donations, resulting in what’s known as the “spring hunger gap.”

Thanks to Walmart, you can take action with simple ways to help people in need. Through May 3, Walmart is providing three easy ways to participate in a Fight Hunger. Spark Change. campaign:

FightHunger-infographic

1) Purchase a participating product at Walmart. 1 item = 1 meal, up to 75 million meals. Participating brands include Campbell’s, ConAgra Foods, General Mills, Kellogg Company, Kraft and Unilever.

2) Donate directly to your local Feeding America food bank at the Walmart store register during checkout.

3) Tweet, Facebook or Instagram a photo of six people dedicated to the fight against hunger and tag it #WeSparkChange. Each public post that includes the photo and hashtag will trigger a $10 donation (up to $1.5 million). We at The Motherhood tweeted our own photo this week to contribute:

#WeSparkChange tweet

To help spread the word, you also can join a #WeSparkChange Twitter party, hosted by @theMotherhood on Friday, April 24, at 1 p.m. ET.

Funds from the Fight Hunger. Spark Change. campaign will go toward supporting Feeding America and 200 member food banks. To kick things off, Walmart has already made a $1.5 million donation. The rest is up to us. Join the movement!

Simple Ways to Give Back with Champions for Kids: #SnacksForStudents

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Are you looking for simple ways to give back to your local community? Have you been seeking out ways to give local kids the resources they need to thrive?

Look no further than Champions for Kids (CFK), a national non-profit organization that has partnered with participating Walmart stores to allow you to make donations that always stay local. A few weeks ago, CFK launched its Snacks for Students program, the first of several campaigns to roll out nationally, with the goal of providing resources to more than 10 million children in 2015.

Over the past few weeks, The Motherhood has worked closely with an outstanding group of bloggers, including Pragmatic Mom, Just Jilly and Midwest Mamas, to help share the news about Snacks for Students. Each of these civic-minded bloggers has connected an organization in her community with a local Walmart store, helping the organization sign up as a “Community Champion” – and in turn, making each organization the official beneficiary of all future Champions for Kids programs at that local store.

Champions for Kids joined forces with General Mills, Kellogg’s, Emerald and Kettle Chips to make it simple for communities to provide basic resources–in this case, snacks for students–through in-store donations.

The Motherhood got in on the fun and philanthropy and connected three organizations local to our Pittsburgh headquarters with nearby Walmart stores, including:

  • Encompass Point, a non-profit child care center committed to providing low-cost, high quality care to teens. (Stores #1882 & #1770 in Butler, PA & Cranberry Twp., PA)
  • Girls Hope of Pittsburgh, a non-profit that helps academically capable and motivated children in need to meet their full potential and become “women for others” by providing value-centered, family-like homes, opportunities and education through college. (Store #4643 in Baden, PA)
  • Volunteers of America — All of us Care, a non-profit program aimed at preventing crime and substance abuse by providing positive activities for children and at-risk youth. (Store #5339 in Fox Chapel, PA)

In addition, Champions for Kids, General Mills, Kellogg’s, Emerald and Kettle Chips will provide 13 awards, totaling $45,000, to school districts and participating youth-based organizations based on the total number of donated items collected in each store, as reported by Community Champions.

Learn more about future Champions for Kids programs and how you can participate through a local store by following @Champions4Kids!